Using Histograms on Photoshop for Color Correction

Histograms are bar graphs that are made of frequency
distribution. They are made with the widths of the bars, created to be
proportional to the class that divides the variable. This variable is
divided by the height of the bars that are proportional to the class
frequencies. What this basically means is that you will be able to make
colors in your photographs more vibrant with histograms.

Materials Needed

Photoshop

Photograph

Step 1: Choose Picture

The first thing that you will need to do is get a picture that you
wish to do color correction on. It is always a good idea to have a
picture to play around with first before you start with pictures that
you wish to use or to keep. Once you have found the right picture, open
up your Photoshop program and begin to get to work.

Step 2: Histogram

It is important that you understand what is what with your histogram.
The axis that is horizontal is what will represent the overall tone of
the picture. The axis that is vertical will be what will represent the
quantity. There are over two hundred and fifty shades in the histogram.
You should know that when there are a lot of dark parts on your picture,
the histogram will show quite a bit of black that will be on the left
hand side. If there are a lot of brighter parts, then there will be
quite a bit of black on the right hand side.

Step 3: Open Histogram

In order to open up the histogram in your Photoshop program, you will
need to choose the Image drop box. Histogram will be an option that you
will be able to choose from there. The histogram is there to show any
problems that may show up with the tone or the overall color of your
photo. The four sections of histograms include: red, blue, green and
luminosity.

Step 4: Levels

When you are in the histogram portion of Photoshop, you will find
that there is no dialog box that is available for you to be able to make
any type of corrections. However, the levels will be able to adjust the
layers on the photograph. Levels will produce to you a histogram that
contains a dialog box that you will be able to use for any type of
corrections. The histogram that is shown on the levels option is the
exact same histogram that you will with the histogram option.

Step 5: Fix

Once you have found the dialog box where you will be able to make
corrections, play around with the levels from there. You will see what
levels do what. Make sure that you are able to view each change that you
make without having to save the image until you are ready. Once you
have found the correct tone and color of the picture, simply hit the
save option and you will have your new and much more colorful picture.